


beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth

by thekaidonovskys



Series: Becoming Three [10]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Academia, Caretaking, M/M, Multi, Organizing Everything and Everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-10 21:55:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2041620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekaidonovskys/pseuds/thekaidonovskys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I love the idea of having you two come home to me after a long day, of organizing you and keeping things running - you’re each just about as complex as a Jaeger, after all. I don’t want to quit my job or anything, but six months of… of domesticity just sounds perfect.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted by Tumblr user thekaidonovskys. Prompted by Tumblr user fiction-and-flowers.

He knows it’s serious when they approach him hand-in-hand.

Tendo looks up, takes them in, then closes his laptop and puts it aside. “What is it?” he asks. 

They exchange a look, then sit down across from him. “We had a video conference today,” Hermann begins. “A request from a university, for our expertise to be called upon for a semester - now that we’ve passed the three year waiting period, they’ve unsealed the war records and the students are particularly eager to learn about what happened. They want us to teach, to run labs, to hold lectures and seminars, and explain our part in winning the war.”

“It’s going to be an open style of learning,” Newt takes over, and the exchange is too seamless to be anything but prepared. They’ve clearly planned this and, even though nothing seems particularly bad right now, Tendo’s already beginning to worry a little. “We’ll each run a series of lectures and workshops every day and basically anybody can come along to them, as well as those who need to take certain lectures to complete their degrees. We’ll teach them about the Kaiju, the Jaegers, everything we saw and discovered and learned, and apparently a bit about Drifting too. That’s the basic idea anyway.”

Tendo can’t see the catch. “That sounds great,” he says, smiling at them both. “When do you start?”

“When we move to London.”

And the smile drops. 

“Oh,” Tendo says quietly after a minute. “Well that would explain why you’re both so serious.” He sighs and looks down at the table. “You have to take it, of course. Of course you do. And… it’ll be okay. I’ll miss you both, but I guess it’s only a semester and I’ll probably be able to come over on the weekends -“

“Tendo,” Hermann interrupts, and he sounds confused. “You think we’re going without you?”

Tendo looks up, frowning. “Well the job’s for you two, isn’t it? And you looked so serious, I could only presume -“

“We looked serious because there’s some pretty serious etiquette around coming home and asking your partner to leave his job for six months to come to London with you.”

Tendo stares at them for a second. “You want me to come?”

“Of course we do, you idiot,” Newt says fondly. “The problem is, there’s no work for you. I mean, the university could probably use you in some way, you know a hell of a lot about the breach and operations around the Jaegers, but you’d probably spend most of your time doing not very much. There’s also the fact that we have to admit that we went to your supervisors and asked if they could spare you for six months. It’s a yes, for the record. But it’s your decision to make, not ours.”

Tendo really doesn’t need to make a decision, but he does need to know one thing. “If I say no, what happens?”

“We don’t go,” Hermann says simply. 

“Well that’s not the right answer,” Tendo says, shaking his head. “You’d have gone, regardless. But it’s okay because my answer is the very obvious  _hell yes._ Of course I’m coming.”

“Even with nothing to occupy you for six months?”

Tendo rolls his eyes. “Did you or did you not just outline some pretty hectic schedules to me? I’m pretty sure I know what my job is going to be for the next six months - keeping you two running. It’s an honour and a pleasure, and oh my god, can we take the train? It stops over in Paris, we could stay there for a couple of nights and I love trains, have I ever mentioned that?”

Hermann looks highly amused. “He’s more excited than you were, darling,” he says to Newt, who’s grinning. “I’m not sure how to go about arranging that -“

“You can leave all that to me,” Tendo assures him. “When do we leave?”

“The semester starts in three weeks -“

Tendo’s immediately on his feet. “Did you want to cut it  _any_ closer?” he asks, already halfway to the office. He returns a moment later with his laptop, as well as three notebooks and pens, giving one to each of them. “Right. Write down everything you need to do in the next week and a half, and everything you then need sorted when we arrive.”

“You weren’t kidding about running our lives then?” Newt asks.

“Of course not. Now, get to it.”

***

Somehow they get themselves organized, packed up and ready to depart in a week and a half. 

It’s all down to Tendo, really. He arranges all the tickets, sorts out the accommodation on the other end, finds out what ‘fully furnished’ really means and orders what’s missing to be delivered the day after they arrive, and gets Newt and Hermann organised. While they’re shutting down their experiments at work and passing on instructions to their coworkers, Tendo’s already started on his leave and is using the days to get the house packed up and running up phone bills to London. He sends boxes on ahead, clears out the fridge, gets copies of every single piece of paperwork he needs and begins compiling his ‘London file’. 

Hermann and Newt don’t see most of it. In fact, they’re only really aware of how much he’s done two days beforehand when they’re finally off work and go to begin getting everything sorted, only to find it’s all done. Short of actually packing their suitcases, there’s nothing to do, to their shock. And then, very quickly, their relief. 

They get to spend the few days relaxing instead, before getting on the train to Paris on the Wednesday. They take the evening train, at Tendo and Newt’s insistence, and, with a private compartment to themselves, they absolutely do not make good on Newt’s wish to experience sex on a train. Not at all. 

Two days in Paris means one day of being vaguely drunk the whole day, and another day of recovery. Then they’re back on the train, off to London. They’ll have a week there to settle in before Newt and Hermann need to begin classes, which includes all of their meetings, learning their way around campus, and getting used to their living environment. They’ll be on campus, but in the guest lecturers quarters which, while a little cramped (especially for three), are at least nice. 

As soon as they enter their temporary home, Tendo dumps nearly all of his bags and goes looking for the office. 

When Hermann and Newt join him five minutes later, he’s already claimed the largest blank wall in the room and is at work, tacking up pages. There’s a colour code on the far left, and each page is highlighted in a myriad of different colours. “Is this what you’ve been so busy with for the past week?” Herman asks.

“Uh-huh,” Tendo says absently as he sticks another page up. “Schedules, office hours, emergency contact information, syllabi, things you’ll need for demonstrations that we need to check if the university already has, lunch breaks, times you’ll be home, meal plans depending on late classes, and, of course, weekend plans and date nights.”

There’s a few moments of silence, then Newt gives a low whistle. “Holy fuck.”

Tendo stops what he’s doing then and turns around. Both partners are staring at him and he blushes a little as he takes in the amount of papers around him. “Um… too much?”

"I think you’re going to be busier than we are,” Herman says, smiling softly. “You’re amazing, Tendo.”

Tendo blushes harder. “It’s nothing, really.”

“Time to start calling you Commander Choi again,” Newt teases him gently. “Honestly, you are a godsend. I’m useless at keeping on top of schedules, and if you can have me out the door and pointed in the right direction every morning then I’m gonna love you forever.”

“Well, I intend on doing far more than that, but yes, I think I can make sure you’ll love me forever. And, hey, I came here for a reason, right?”

“You came here because we couldn’t bear six months apart from you. It was purely selfish, and even more selfish to admit how much I’m looking forward to you keeping our lives on track, when really, sweetheart, you are here to do whatever you like.”

“And what I like is taking care of you both,” Tendo says honestly. “I love the idea of having you two come home to me after a long day, of organizing you and keeping things running, - you’re each just about as complex as a Jaeger, after all. I don’t want to quit my job or anything, but six months of… of  _domesticity_  just sounds perfect.”

Hermann and Newt exchange a look. “Herms, how’d we get so lucky?”

“I wish I knew, darling. I think Tendo was brought to me to make up for you.”

“I resent that a hell of a lot.” Newt clearly doesn’t, and they’re both smiling when they look back at Tendo. “Really though,” he says. “You’re an absolute angel.”

Tendo shrugs, trying not to blush again. “Commander Choi, at your service,” he says. 

***

How true that becomes. 

The first week is pure chaos. Newt and Hermann go to their meetings on the Monday before classes start, and each return with armfuls of paperwork, handbooks and current texts. They also both look more than a bit stressed - Newt in particular looks ready to throw it all out the window and take the next train back to Switzerland. 

Tendo takes each of the piles and banishes them from the office for half an hour (he’s pretty sure they’ll find a way to pass the time) while he gets everything in order. When he lets them back in, each of their desks are arranged in the manner that suits them the best. Hermann’s books are ordered by size and his papers are colour coded and filed based on subject matter. Everything on Newt’s desk is laid out by date and all of his folders are labelled clearly so he doesn’t lose anything. Their updated schedules are on the wall, and all important information is labelled with bright, arrow shaped stickers. There’s even a to-do list on each of their desks. 

“It might not be quite right,” Tendo says, almost apologetically, “but it’s just based off what I saw when I was organising and what seems to be the most crucial for today. Is it all okay?”

Judging by the way he’s attacked by both of his partners in the next second, Tendo takes it as a yes.

The office isn’t used for its proper purpose until much later that evening. 

Once they’ve settled in and begun to set up a routine, Newt and Hermann spend every day of the first week in the office, working through lesson plans and assessment requirements. They bounce ideas off one another, bicker over how much information they should actually divulge (“Newton Geiszler, I swear to god, if you give  _any_ of those students the idea to go Drifting with a detached brain of any species, I will report you to the Commissioner for Human Rights.”), and generally make good progress on getting ready. 

In the first week, Tendo is more or less invisible. Not ignored, certainly not, but so much gets done without Hermann and Newt seeming aware of it until later - the wall is constantly updated with information, their desks are straightened up and lost paperwork recovered, meals are always ready when they need them and the house stays in perfect condition. And yet, Tendo always seems to be around, either helping with the overall organisation of their plans or just sitting curled up in the armchair in the corner of the office, listening or reading but just being there. 

“Are you actually real?” Newt asks one day. “Because usually my head’s such a mess at this point, but with everything around me in order it just can’t help but fall in line. And you’re organizing  _two_ of us. How do you do it?”

Tendo smiles, midway through checking Hermann’s lesson plan for any overlap on topics. “J-TCHO_695.07-P, J-Tech Chief LOCCENT Officer and Shatterdome Technician for Anchorage and Hong Kong. Unbelievable as it may seem, I’ve had bigger logistical nightmares than the two of you. Besides, it’s fun.”

“Fun?”

“Uh-huh. You like sticking your hands in guts, Hermann likes making up imaginary numbers, I like organizing chaotic schedules. Together we make the world go around, or, in this case, we make sure the students get a good education.” He hands the pages back to Hermann, then stands. “It all looks good to me. I don’t understand half of those words in the abstract mathematics section, but knowing you they make sense and are all brilliant. I’ll go get started on lunch.”

As he leaves, he hears Newt murmur, “Seriously, Herms,  _how_  are we this lucky?” and Tendo has to smile.

***

Teaching begins.

Tendo gives them breathing room for the first week. He doesn’t push his presence on them, doesn’t pressure them to come home in their breaks or go out for lunch or anything that he’s got tentatively scheduled in. Instead, he just listens to them talk about their days, makes notes based on their initial observations, and keeps them running. 

Once the week’s over, Tendo sits down with them on Saturday, notebook in hand, and outlines his suggestions for their schedules and how to make the most of their time. They’ve both set their office hours and organised their open workshops, and now Tendo can get to work on the logistics of it all. He takes the entire afternoon to write up the schedule for an average week, complete with colour coding and individual task lists. Then he makes his own schedule, working around theirs to ensure that the house stays running. 

They implement it. 

It works.  

And they settle in. 

***

On Mondays, Newt starts at eight. Tendo gets up with him at seven - because the beauty of living on campus is the absolute lack of commute - and makes coffee and breakfast while Newt gets dressed and presentable. They talk about Newt’s plans for the week ahead, Tendo calms any vestiges of anxiety that might be threatening (Newt’s brilliant with people but not always too great in front of a crowd, and after a weekend off he always needs a little bit of encouragement), and then Tendo sends him out the door. 

By then Hermann’s usually considering waking up, and Tendo goes back to the bedroom to cuddle with him for awhile. Hermann doesn’t start until ten, which is great for sleeping in, but he runs non-stop right through until five with no real time for a lunch break. So Tendo takes the time to just spend time with him, to relax together for an hour or so until Hermann needs to get up and get ready. Rinse and repeat Newt’s routine, except now Tendo goes out the door with him, walking Hermann to his first classroom before heading on to the shops, a mercifully short distance away. He makes grocery lists on Sunday nights, shops on Mondays, and usually they’re good to go for the rest of the week.

The next hour is his check-in video conference with his supervisor. Tendo likes to keep up to date with what’s happening back at work, just so he’s not completely out of the loop when he returns. He passes on messages to Hermann and Newt’s coworkers and receives some in return, which he writes down and leaves in their in-trays. It’s the best system they’ve found - the two often miss seeing each other between classes, and it’s easier to just leave a note instead of trying to remember important information to share that evening. 

Newt comes home at twelve, classes done for the day. He works later through the rest of the week, but they’ve kept him an afternoon free in case he wants to run any impromptu projects while he’s here. At the moment there’s nothing like that catching Newt’s attention, so Monday afternoons are theirs. Tendo makes lunch, or they go out to eat, and then they usually go for a walk. Sometimes they’ll find something to do in the city, other times they’ll return home and Newt will either work on his lesson plans or they’ll curl up and watch a movie. 

Newt walks over to meet Hermann just before five, and Tendo cooks. Hermann’s usually pretty tired by the time he gets home - Mondays are his main lecture days, and his leg is often twingeing - so they let him decide what to do for the rest of the evening. Sometimes there’s work to be done, but often they’ll just end up watching mind-numbing television or talking about matters of no significance. Usually it’s an early night.

***

Tuesdays are the most convoluted.

Hermann begins at nine, Newt at ten, but Newt usually goes in with Hermann anyway to get a head start on setting up his lab. Hermann’s then finished at eleven, and has a break until one, but he’ll then swing by Newt’s lab and spend the next hour until Newt finishes at twelve just watching, occasionally offering input. Then they’ll have an hour of shared break time before they both return at one. Hermann then has another break from two to three, just missing Newt’s break from three until four, and at four Hermann finishes but Newt’s not done until six. 

Tendo works around it, of course. He uses Tuesday mornings to clean and generally get the house organised. Neither of his partners are particularly messy, but they do often leave papers around the place that probably shouldn’t be lost, so Tendo makes sure everything is where it belongs. He usually takes the time to organise their schedules as well, because sometimes extra classes are added or meetings have to happen, and Tendo makes notes of it all. It’s all under his control.

Then he’s out at twelve, off to meet Hermann and Newt for lunch. They usually eat on campus, since they only have an hour, and Newt and Hermann fill him in on the morning’s events - because Newt’s Tuesday morning labs are always the most interesting of the week. If someone hasn’t ended up requiring medical attention, it’s a miracle. 

Hermann’s next class is advanced abstract mathematics, and Tendo nearly always comes along. Not because he understands - not a word of it makes any sense to him - but because there’s something about watching his partners teach that he loves, and this is the best time for him to watch Hermann. He sits at Hermann’s desk, feet kicked up, and watches Hermann pace around and explain, just smiling. There are a couple of particularly bright students in the class, and Hermann’s promised them if they get 100% on the first test then he’ll divulge the original prototype base code for the Mark I’s and let them have a go at correcting it. Which apparently is one hell of an incentive. 

Once that’s over, it’s just office hours left for Hermann. Tendo walks him there, hangs out with him for awhile until his hours officially start - because Hermann’s office is  _awesome_  - and then heads off just in time to meet Newt for his break. Since Newt teaches in the same lab for most of the day, he doesn’t have to clear out in the breaks, so Tendo just meets him there. By this point, Newt’s either full of energy because his students have been inspiring and insightful, or exhausted and irritated with the world in general. Tendo always finds a way to handle both, and Newt’s always in the right frame of mind by the time Tendo leaves him to his final class for the day. 

Hermann comes home with him then, done for the day. Usually, since Tuesdays are easy on Hermann and he’s nearly always in a good mood when they get home, they’ll take advantage of their alone time. If they’re not in the mood or Hermann’s leg isn’t up for it, they’ll just have their intimacy in words and closeness instead. Both are equally as good.

Again, Newt can either come home buzzing or worn out. Hermann handles him if it’s the former, engaging him in debate to wear his mind down; Tendo takes him if it’s the latter, cuddling with him until Newt either feels better or falls asleep. Usually Tuesdays end up being order-in or leftovers night, with whoever isn’t looking after Newt taking care of that. 

***

Wednesdays are the best. 

Tendo’s probably a little biased there, but hell, Wednesdays  _are_ the best because on Wednesdays he gets to _teach._ As Newt pointed out when they had first moved, the university would be kind of dumb not to take advantage of having Tendo there and, sure enough, they’ve got him running a class on the elements to Kaiju classification and breach specifics. Which Tendo  _swears_ he gave all the information about on the first day and is now just bullshitting it, but hey, students are still turning up so he’s going to keep going. 

Wednesday mornings have Tendo out of the house at the same time as Hermann and Newt, and that’s why Wednesdays are also the best because their schedules are in sync - they each teach from ten until twelve, then Hermann and Newt run a joint open workshop from three until five, which is an informal plane for students to discuss things, experiment with things and watch Hermann and Newt bicker infamously. Sometimes if Tendo’s students want to know more, he directs them to the class and shows up too. Sometimes - okay, always - he just shows up and hangs out, watching his partners fondly when they start arguing. 

The students know about the three of them, of course. The ones who come to the joint workshops think it’s the most ridiculous setup ever - because Doctors Gottlieb and Geiszler clearly  _hate_ each other, and they don’t even pay attention to Commander Choi (and  _why_ the university has decided to bring back his title, Tendo doesn’t understand but is pretty sure he blames Newt for) when he’s there, and how on earth can they make a relationship with  _three_ of them work is beyond them.

Tendo just sits back and watches and smiles. Because it does work, and that’s what matters. 

They usually go out on Wednesdays as well. It’s not exactly a date - they’re not really the dating type, any of them - but just dinner together. Really, it’s an excuse for Tendo to not have to cook. Which, honestly, is less about Tendo not having to cook and definitely about placating Hermann and Newt who usually start feeling guilty around this time of the week that they’re not contributing and he’s taking too good care of them. 

They keep forgetting that Tendo  _likes_ taking care of them. 

***

Thursdays are Newt’s least favourites. 

Tuesdays might exhaust him, but Thursdays stress him. Newt has his biggest lecture on Thursday mornings, a three hour time slot in the largest lecture hall on campus, and that’s when his anxiety always begins to wind up a little. This lecture is also his only one that has a compulsory component - all Biology majors have to attend this one, so it’s less about people actually coming to learn and much more that people attend to pass exams. That’s always a harder crowd to teach to. 

Hermann runs from one to five, so there’s no problems there. They can both focus on Newt. So Tendo and Hermann always go with him. Without exception, because they know Newt needs it, they’re always in the front row where he can see them. If he can focus on them, he at least knows that there are two people listening to what he has to say. There are also plenty of students who come because they’re interested and, after figuring out the connection between the two in the front row and the one lecturing them, all start sitting in the front section of the lecture hall. Newt ignores the back of the room and the class usually gets by without any real incidents. 

When he finishes at eleven, they go home. Tendo makes lunch while Newt and Hermann talk shop, then they put all the work aside and enjoy one another’s company for the next two hours. At one, Hermann goes in for his four hour workshop, which is his favorite class, because it’s all PhD students working on their final thesis projects. Hands-on coding with Hermann Gottlieb overseeing the class and often getting into long debates about the merits of particular features of the Mark I coding over the later Jaeger models - no wonder he loves it. 

Meanwhile, Newt has office hours, usually followed by a meeting with the department heads. Tendo never expects to see him until three or four - Newt’s prone to letting his office hours run over because he also finds himself in long debates, in his case about Kaiju cloning theories. The department meetings are boring and tiresome, so Tendo’s always prepared for him when he gets home. He knows how to brighten Newt’s mood without fail. 

Hermann usually comes home with his mind full of ideas, and disappears into the office until Tendo manages to make him resurface for dinner. He tends to talk at them as he eats, the words going well over Newt and Tendo’s heads but they don’t mind - they always love listening to Hermann’s mind at work. 

On Thursday nights, they both need a bit of a break, whether it be from a stressful day or a mind full of ideas. Tendo hesitantly suggested the idea when they first moved in, not quite expecting the enthusiastic response he got in response, but now it’s cemented - Thursday nights are board game nights. They’ve got all the pre-war games (because everything now is Kaiju or Jaeger related and the classics remind them of their childhood anyway); Scrabble, Monopoly, Cluedo, even an old Dungeons and Dragons which usually takes way too long and is reserved for Sunday afternoons with nothing better to do. Hermann has a strategy for Monopoly that has him winning 95% of the time with Tendo and Newt having no idea how he does it; Newt is brilliant at Cluedo somehow; and Tendo trounces them at Scrabble because Hermann might be the articulate one but Tendo’s got the strangest words in his vocabulary that they just can’t beat. 

They usually go to bed with at least one of them sulking.

***

And Fridays hardly count.

Hermann has a two hour midday workshop, an open mathematics and coding class for anybody at any level to wander in. It’s essentially extended office hours.

At the same time, Newt has a discussion class on Kaiju, which is such a broad topic that they usually end up discussing one single Kaiju for the entire time. At the rate they’re working, they won’t have gotten past Knifehead by the end of the semester. 

Tendo does little while they’re running these classes, though he’s learned to stay by the phone. He’ll get the occasional text or phone call from Newt, asking him to confirm something about determining the category of the Kaiju or the naming of them. He’s just about at the point of going to the class with Newt every week just to be on hand, but he doesn’t want to impose either. 

They both get home just after two and, because they can, proceed to do nothing for the rest of the afternoon. Usually, if Newt begs enough, Hermann will read to him, and Tendo definitely won’t turn that down either, even if he does usually end up falling asleep. He blames Hermann’s voice entirely for that. Once he’s been woken up, he cooks, and then the evening follows the same tone of quiet relaxation. He figures his partners have earned it after their respective weeks. 

***

Weekends vary. Sometimes Newt and Hermann are marking, in which case Tendo always helps, always organises papers and keeps track of answer keys and reads papers that are incomprehensible to the other two (“You two reported to Stacker Pentacost but I had to read  _his_ reports. And that man could not write.”). It’s also Tendo’s job to make sure they don’t work too hard, so they’re not allowed to mark for more than two hours straight before taking a break. If they break the rules, Tendo has full rights to come in and be as distracting as possible until they stop. Which he does extremely well.

If they’re not busy, they’re tourists. London wasn’t hit by the Kaiju, so all of the old architecture still stands, and London itself is an amazing place anyway. They’ve gone over to Cardiff a couple of times as well, mainly so Hermann can show off his language skills, but Newt and Tendo don’t mind. The United Kingdom has begun to follow Switzerland’s lead, and while the three of them don’t exactly engage in PDA when they’re out together, it wouldn’t be too hard to miss that they’re all  _together._ Apart from a few curious looks, nobody’s really caring all that much at all. 

And if they’re not tourists, they’re just at home. Because there’s nothing wrong with wanting to spend a weekend in the company of the people they love, and they always find ways to pass the time anyway. 

***

Tendo runs everything. He has contingency plans, backups, even alternate schedules for if something changes suddenly and drastically. Their lives are under his control, and if he drops the ball then they’re all going to fall down.

He doesn’t drop it. He keeps Hermann and Newt going, because it’s what he loves to do. 

***

That said, even the best of schedules can’t always go to plan.

***

One Thursday, not even two hours in, the majority of the lecture hall have lost interest and begun whispering. The noise is slowly building, the students who are actually here to listen are getting frustrated, and Newt’s beginning to falter.

With a glance at Hermann, they both stand and walk onto the stage, Hermann taking the microphone from Newt as they finally get some attention from the hall. “How many of you are here for compulsory requirements?” Hermann asks. Over half the room raises their hands and he nods. “Now, how many of you are here today because you’ve already missed four lectures and have to attend the rest to pass the attendance requirements?”

Tendo takes in the raised hands - probably about eighty percent of those who had their hands raised before - then takes the microphone from Hermann, who heads for the door. “Doctor Gottlieb is about to re-code the scanner,” Tendo explains. “It’ll read eleven when you swipe out of the hall, as long as you do so in the next five minutes. So for those of you who don’t actually want to be here: leave. And if you don’t want to come back, email Doctor Gottlieb and he’ll change the codes on your attendance records too.”

It takes three minutes for sixty percent of the room to leave. 

When everybody’s settled again, Tendo addresses those who have stayed - because Hermann’s taken Newt out the back for a second, just to give him a minute to calm down. “We know that’s not exactly the right thing to do,” he says. “And we also know we can’t actually ask you not to tell the administration that we’ve done that - though we’d really prefer if you didn’t. But you guys actually want to hear what Newt has to say - and I don’t blame you, he’s got an incredible mind, you should be soaking this up - and we’re not going to let them ruin this for him or for you because they don’t want to be here.”

He actually gets applause for that, which only grows when Newt and Hermann return. Newt, looking a hell of a lot happier, takes the microphone back then stops to hug Tendo. “You two are the best,” he whispers, and kisses him on the cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you too, beautiful.”

There are no further complications for the rest of the lecture. And nobody reports them. 

But from then on in, the Thursday lecture changes drastically. They get a smaller room, a much smaller turnout, and it becomes far more of a workshop than a lecture. It requires a bit more work from Newt, some shuffling of the schedule from Tendo and some covert coding from Hermann, but the reward - Newt’s peace of mind - is worth it. 

***

Hermann comes down with a nasty cold one Friday, which he gets away with not cancelling class for by not letting on until the afternoon. It hits its peak on Saturday, but by Monday he’s still not completely better and there’s actually no way that Tendo’s going to let him teach. Newt can take over his classes from twelve onwards, and has a solid enough idea of what’s going on to get the information across to the students, but he’s got his own classes to teach until then, and Hermann still has a ten until twelve lecture to run that he strictly refuses to cancel. If nobody else is going to teach it, Hermann’s going to drag himself in to do it.

So Tendo does it. He leaves Hermann curled up with his laptop and strict orders to call Tendo immediately if anything goes wrong (which it won’t, it’s just a cold and Tendo knows that, but still), and goes in, Hermann’s notes in hand. He gets a few strange looks, but when he explains the circumstances there’s immediate sympathy. Hermann’s students, for all of his abrasiveness and harsh teaching style,  _like_ him.

“Look,” Tendo admits as he glances at the notes, “I don’t understand any of this. Doctor Gottlieb’s meant to be teaching you about the Walsh-Hadamard code and how it was manipulated to read the breach. I know nothing about the code, and I’m basically just going to put his notes online for you to all read, but you have come in and you do need to be here for two hours so… what do you want to do?”

There’s a moment of silence, then a hand goes up in the front row. “You might not know about the code, but you know about the breach,” the girl says. “Can you explain the elements of it and the results that came back from the readings? If we have that, we might be able to work out the manipulations ourselves.”

“I can definitely do that,” Tendo agrees. “And, hey, here’s an idea. Again, no clue about how these things work, but if you think you’ve figured it out then write it down and I’ll take it home to Hermann - sorry, Doctor Gottlieb - and I’ll try to convince him to give you extra credit for it. Good plan?”

Apparently so. Tendo has a fixated and interactive audience for the next two hours, and, while some of the questions are well beyond him, he’s pretty sure he gives a good enough explanation of the breach for things to make sense. At the end of the lecture, he gets seven different pages of coding that makes his head hurt just looking at it, and overhears quite a few comments about how interesting the lecture was. 

Newt shows up then and, after a few minutes to swap notes and see how Newt’s morning was, Tendo gladly lets him take over to go home to Hermann. He’s a little uncertain about his teaching style now, and definitely unsure about the interactivity of it, but Hermann looks so pleasantly surprised when Tendo presents the notes to him that Tendo guesses he’s done something right. “I should have thought of that,” he says, his voice still a little raspy from the cold. “That was extremely clever of you, far better than anything I could have taught them.”

“You don’t have to go that far -“

“I mean it. I can stand up there and tell them everything they need to know, and they’ll take notes and understand what I’m saying; but you made them think and work it out and even if they didn’t get it right or put in a guess, they at least  _got_ it.” Hermann flicks through a few of the pages, then pauses on one of them. “And here’s the proof - she’s only a few off.”

“I think she was the one who asked me to do it that way. I might have suggested extra credit…”

“She’ll get it, don’t worry.” Hermann shakes his head, smiling. “I’d better watch out,” he says. “You might steal my class from me.”

“You don’t have to worry about that at all.” Tendo presses the back of his hand to Hermann’s forehead. “You’re looking a lot better. Might let you go back to teaching tomorrow.”

“Unless you want to teach advanced abstract mathematics, you’ll have to.”

“You’ll be back to work tomorrow.”

Hermann laughs. 

***

Tendo’s called away midway through the semester, leaving early in the morning on Tuesday and arriving home midday on Friday. It’s no big deal - their facility has a small partnership in Edinburgh, and since Tendo’s here they’ve asked if he’ll come in to check over their technology - but it does mean he has to leave Hermann and Newt to their own devices for a few days.

They’ll cope, of course, and tell him as such. But Tendo can’t help himself - he sticks reminders all over the place, buys a bunch of frozen meals when he shops on Monday, and puts a note inside the Monopoly box reminding Hermann not to win too badly. 

Even Hermann gets up early to see him off on Tuesday. With a few last minute reminders, Tendo’s gone, with all his fingers crossed that they remember to go to their classes today. 

He has all the faith in the world in his partners, but they are the most disorganized people he’s ever met.

The few days go by pretty quickly. It’s all routine work, but most of it has to be done later on in the evening or at night when the equipment isn’t in use. As a result, Tendo never quite gets the times right to call Hermann and Newt, so apart from a few texts (usually Tendo, usually reminders), he doesn’t speak to them at all while he’s away. He hopes that means they’re still alive and have worked out how to get food for themselves when it doesn’t magically appear on the table. 

He really hopes they’ve worked it out. 

Going home might be interesting. 

When he lets himself in just after twelve on Friday, Tendo isn’t actually sure what he wants to see. On one hand, a spotless house would be wonderful, indicating that Newt and Hermann are sufficient on their own… but it would also mean that all of the months he’s done everything for them have been unnecessary. But he doesn’t want the place to be a mess, either, because the idea of his partners not coping in his absence is worrying.

So when the place turns out to be clean and undestroyed, but not exactly the standards Tendo keeps it at, he’s relieved. He is still needed, after all.

There’s a note on the bed when Tendo goes through to unpack, in Newt’s handwriting, telling him under no conditions is he to start preparing dinner because they’re taking him out, and that they’ll see him at two. Hermann’s added a footnote stating that while he absolutely does not condone Tendo coming home and immediately straightening up the house, he knows full well it’s going to happen so if Tendo happens to see his papers on the comparisons of Mark I and Mark II Jaegers then Hermann would love them placed on his desk.

Shaking his head fondly, Tendo unpacks his bag, then does exactly as Hermann predicted. It’s not all that much that has to be done - checking the food levels, picking up the living room, a little bit of light cleaning because he might as well do it now, and then tidying up the office which has gotten a bit paperwork-y in his absence. He straightens up Newt’s desk, finds Hermann’s papers in Newt’s out-tray of all places, and takes them over to do the same to Hermann’s, humming as he does. 

He’s missed this. He really has. 

Tendo’s just finished updating everything when he hears the front door open. He stills and waits, smiling as he does because it might have only been three days but he really has missed his partners quite a bit. 

“The place is spotless,” Newt says a second after they’ve entered. “I think we know what that means.”

“Indeed,” Hermann agrees, and Tendo can actually hear the smile in his voice. “It means that I can stop worrying about that paperwork because our wonderful partner has clearly found it for me.”

Tendo pokes his head around the office door, grinning now. “Newt stole it. I’ll need your updates for the week and an inventory of what exactly you ate to make the food disappear so quickly and hi. I missed you both like crazy.”

“We missed you too. Get out here.”

He does, and is hugged half to death by his partners. “I’m glad you survived without me, though,” Tendo says when they release him and they’re all just standing there, smiling at each other as they do whenever one of them comes home after a time away. “I had awful visions of coming back to the house on fire or you’d starved to death because you couldn’t work out how to use the microwave.”

“We are not entirely incompetent,” Hermann argues. “That said, your presence certainly was missed - naturally not just for your organisation and domesticity. We missed  _you_ far more than we missed anything you do for us.”

“Speak for yourself. I just missed everything being laid out on my desk for me when I got home.”

Tendo rolls his eyes. “If that’s all you missed, Newt, then I guess I only have to cook meals for myself and Hermann from now on.”

Newt looks as if Christmas has been cancelled. Tendo can’t quite resist kissing him.

***

The semester begins to draw to a close. 

Tendo begins getting ready to pack everything back up again. 

He knows he’s going to miss this - it’s been such a nice six months, and clearly good for Hermann and Newt. But Tendo also misses his job, misses getting out of the house and working with technical equipment and sometimes being the one coming home late to one or both of his partners waiting for him. He’s loved being domestic, but it’s not something he plans to quit his job over. 

At least not yet. Perhaps in a few years. 

***

It’s their last week, and on Friday morning they’re approached by the university director himself with a request - a two hour block this afternoon, with no topic, no agenda, just questions. And not questions about Kaiju or Jaegers or the war at all. Questions about them. 

All three of them. 

Naturally they’re allowed to choose which questions they will and won’t answer. But equally as naturally, people are  _curious._ Because this is the first time they’ve been allowed to teach about the war, but, for many of them, this is the first time they’ve met a functioning and unashamedly honest polyamorous relationship. So there are going to be questions of a personal nature, and it’s up to them how they want to play it.

In the end, they agree. There are some topics they won’t touch - Tendo’s time in Sydney, the more intimate details of their relationship, how their families have responded to this - but everything else is not exactly a secret. They’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, after all. 

“Besides,” Hermann adds as they part ways, “it’s the last class before reading week, and people are far more worried about their exams. Nobody’s going to show up.”

It’s alway so lovely when Hermann’s wrong. 

The hall is packed. There are people sitting in the aisles, standing in the doorways and generally creating a fire hazard. The three of them can only stare for a moment as they enter the room, and then Newt’s grinning, any fear of crowds apparently gone. “So this is what it’s like to be a rockstar,” he says.

Hermann snorts. “Yes, darling, if you say so.”

“It’s pretty cool though!”

“It is that,” Tendo agrees. “But it’s also five to, so we’d better get up there.”

Tendo’s set up a schedule for how things are going to run - of course. The first half hour is dedicated to the war, to questions that haven’t been answered already through their teaching. The half is about each of them as individual people - nothing too prying, but Tendo imagines they’ll want to know how the three of them ended up where they are and doing what they do. Finally, they’ll open up the floor for questions about anything and everything for the last hour. Which, because Tendo isn’t stupid, he knows will be all about their relationship. 

They’re as ready as they can be. 

To his surprise, the first question is for Tendo. It’s about Stacker Pentacost, his answer leaves the room in hysterics, and they’re off to a good start. 

Hermann and Newt field most of the first half hour, naturally. Newt takes them all on a rambling verbal tour of his adventures in the Bone Slums and nearly being killed by both Otachi and Otachi’s spawn - Hermann just adds his scathing commentary along the way. Then they discuss Drifting and the aftereffects. 

When it comes to them as individuals, the questions are pretty evenly spread and entirely varied. Somebody’s brave enough to ask about Hermann’s leg, and Hermann surprises Tendo by actually answering, though of course not in great detail. Newt ‘reluctantly’ agrees to take off his shirt and reveal all of his tattoos, talking everybody through them in quite a lot of detail. And Tendo, asked whether his outfits are inspired by the Eleventh Doctor, has to quietly admit the truth. 

Then it’s onto the part that everybody’s been waiting for, and half the hands in the room go up when Tendo opens up the floor. They look between the three of them, then Hermann turns back to the crowd. “How about we just tell you?” he proposes. 

So they do. Hermann takes most of it, Newt and Tendo chipping in when he leaves something out. They tell their story to an auditorium of silent and respectful students - their story of becoming three. And when they finish, instead of a flurry of immediate questions, there’s applause. Which is… good. Surprising, but very good indeed. 

_Then_ there’s a flurry of immediate questions. 

They field them the best they can. There are some things they flat refuse to talk about (sex, full stop), others are tiptoed around (why Tendo suddenly picked up and left Sydney), and everything else is explained as well as possible (what happens if they have a fight, how do they manage date nights, what’s the schedule like, all the usual). By the time they’re down to the last few minutes, they’ve talked more about their relationship than all the time they’ve spent together. 

And it’s been good for them as well. To hear the ones you love talking about why they love you and how they make the relationship work is always good for the confidence. 

The final question is for Tendo, and it takes everything he has in him not to laugh at it. 

“You said Doctors Gottlieb and Geiszler were a couple well before you came along. Do you ever feel like the third wheel?”

Tendo sees Hermann tense up, sees Newt prepare to launch into a tirade, and holds up a hand to stop them both. “I’m certainly the third wheel,” he agrees. “That’s because I’m all of the wheels. If I leave, these two fall apart - those of you who graduate having passed their classes, you have one person to thank for the fact that they even managed to  _show up_ to teach you. Doctors Gottlieb and Geiszler are two of the best minds this world has right now, but they are also  _useless._ They needed the man who controlled Jaegers to control their lives, so they’re just damn lucky that he loves them and is willing to do so.”

He looks to Hermann and Newt, who are both smiling. “Can’t argue with that,” Newt says. 

“Nor can I. He’s completely right. But a word to the wise - do remember that we are the ones who mark your final exams. Do try not to insult our partner in front of us.”

They end with laughter and applause, and that’s the best way to see Hermann Gottlieb and Newton Geiszler out. 

***

And they’re done. Final exams are over, marks are back, and Tendo’s packed up their lives again. There’s no stopover in Paris this time, only the quick exchange to the next train and, soon enough, the familiar landscape of Switzerland is greeting them again. 

Tendo’s looking out the window, watching the world go by, when Hermann sits down next to him and puts his arm around him. “I do hope you know,” he says, keeping his voice low so as to not wake Newt, sleeping on the other side of the compartment, “how truly grateful we are to you. And I know you don’t look upon what you did for us as a service of any kind, but I wanted to just put that into words. Newton and I would not have survived without you.”

Tendo rests his head on Hermann’s shoulder. “Neither would I,” he says quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“Sydney.”

Hermann wraps his other arm around Tendo to hug him properly, and for a long time they don’t speak. “I feel I need to retract what I said earlier,” Hermann says after awhile. “Because I’m not just grateful to you for what you did these past six months - I’m grateful that you’re here. I can’t imagine life without you.”

“I’m grateful for you,” Tendo murmurs. “Both of you. I’m so goddamn grateful that I’ve got what honestly feels like a second chance at life, and this time everything’s working. I’ve got two partners who love me and who I love - and I’m capable of loving them, you don’t even know how afraid I was that I wouldn’t be able to. But more than that, I have two people who trust me enough to place their lives in my hands for six months, who trust me to run everything for them and that I’ll do it all right. You see it as me doing something for you, but you did just as much for me.”

“Tendo, sweetheart, I would put my life in your hands any day and every day. So would Newton, I can guarantee it -“

“Nu-uh,” Newt says, and Tendo looks up to see him with his eyes open, watching them. “Not  _would. Do._ I already do. And I echo everything Hermann’s said, completely. I hate what happened to you, Tendo, but having you come into our lives like you did is something I can’t hate.”

Tendo agrees with that. He holds out his other arm to Newt, who quickly joins them, and Tendo’s curled up between his two favorite people in the universe. “I love you both, so much,” he says, a little bit choked up. “And while I’m not ready to quit my job and become a househusband just yet, I can say that it’s been my honour to keep you two in line.”

“Herms has to propose first anyway,” Newt points out. 

“Stop bringing it up, it’ll ruin the moment when he does.”

Hermann rolls his eyes at both of them. “How about preserving this moment now?”

“Sounds good to me.”

They settle back in to quiet comfort as the train takes them home. 

**Author's Note:**

> I am Tendo Choi. Date me and I'll run your life. 
> 
> Title from "Samson".


End file.
